UN Human Rights Council Launches Inquiry into Gaza Conflict

The UN Human Rights Council voted Wednesday to launch an inquiry into potential violations of human rights by Israel in its conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip — a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly labeled a “travesty.”

The council’s inquiry would investigate “all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law” in Palestinian areas. The resolution was drafted by Palestine, and supported by 29 of the 46-member council. The U.S. voted against the resolution, while European countries abstained.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the UNHRC inquiry as a “travesty” and condemned the organization for failing to bring Hamas to account for its own conduct.

“The UNHRC is sending a message to Hamas and terror organizations everywhere that using civilians as human shields is an effective strategy,” said the prime minister in statement published on his official Facebook page.

The vote came after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay suggested that war crimes might have been committed in the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of doing too little to avoid civilian deaths, and condemning Hamas for “indiscriminate attacks” on Israel.

“There seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” Pillay told the U.N. Human Rights Council. “Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated.”

Civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, according to the UN. As of Thursday, 757 Palestinians had been killed, of which 571 were civilians, including 182 children and 95 women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At least 30 Israelis have also been killed during the conflict, mostly members of the armed forces.

Israeli tanks and aircraft continued their thrust into the sliver of Palestinian coastal territory on Thursday, aiming to eliminate Hamas’s rocket systems and destroy the matrix of tunnels that Israel says the Islamist group uses to wage war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck 35 targets overnight. But there were more reports of Palestinian civilians killed; six members of the same family and an 18-month-old infant boy were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the Jebaliya refugee camp, according to the Associated Press.

While whispers of a possible humanitarian truce ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Fitr festival wafted through the social media sphere this week, there have been no concrete signs that such an armistice will be signed. “It would not be accurate to say that we expect a ceasefire by the weekend,” said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Reuters.

A smattering of international envoys have been shuttling across the Middle East throughout the week in attempt to wrangle up some sort of agreement that remained elusive as of Thursday morning.

In Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal signaled that the organization would consider a humanitarian ceasefire with Israel, but reiterated that his group would not strike a deal with the Netanyahu Administration until Israel agreed to end its seven-year blockade of Gaza.

“We will not accept any proposal that does not lift the blockade,” said the Hamas chief in a televised address Wednesday. “We do not desire war and we do not want it to continue but we will not be broken by it.”

Analysts say Israel is facing mounting global pressure as civilian losses grow in Gaza, but add that Hamas is facing plenty of pressures of its own.

“Hamas is on the receiving end and they can only go a certain distance in terms of absorbing losses and holding a united front within Gaza,” Sultan Barakat, the director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, tells TIME. “Soon they will run out of supplies. There will be an increased number of people displaced within Gaza and people will turn their anger towards them.”

Israel's Ground Invasion of Gaza Continues

A Palestinian Christian man from Gaza tries to push the coffin of Jalila Ayad in her grave during her funeral on the small and overcrowded cemetery of the St. Porfirius church in Gaza City, July 27, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

Palestinian men gather things they found in the rubble of destroyed buildings on July 27, 2014 in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City as families returned to find their homes ground into rubble by relentless Israeli tank fire and air strikes.

Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images

Palestinians recover the body of a man killed when his home was hit the previous night by Israeli fire in the northern district of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip during an humanitarian truce, on July 26, 2014.

Palestinian women react amid the destruction in the northern district of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip during an humanitarian truce on July 26, 2014.

Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images

A general view of destroyed buildings after Israeli attacks in a part of the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in east Gaza City, July 26, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

Palestinian girls peers from inside a UN school in Jabalia, north Gaza Strip, on July 25, 2014, where they found shelter after escaping from their home.

Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images

Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over the Gaza Strip, July 25, 2014.

Majdi Fathi—ZumaPress

Israeli APCs drive near the Israeli border with Gaza as they come out of the Gaza Strip July 25, 2014.

Nir Elias—Reuters

Mortar cases are piled at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.

Nir Elias—Reuters

A Palestinian man holds a girl injured during shelling at a U.N.-run school sheltering Palestinians, at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014.

Alessio Romenzi for TIME

Blood stains of displaced Palestinians are seen inside the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun after it had been hit, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.

Alessio Romenzi for TIME

A Palestinian woman stands in front of buildings damaged by Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia district of the northern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014.

Marco Longari—AFP/Getty Images

Relatives hold the bodies of Palestinian children Hadi Abdel Nabi, 3, and one and a-half-year-old Abdel Rahman Abdel Nabi, at the cemetery in Jebaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, during their funeral, July 24, 2014.

Lefteris Pitarakis—AP

A young Palestinian girl who got injured when a UN school for refugees was allegedly hit by a Israeli tank shells, lies on a hospital bed in the emergency room of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, July 24, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

Displaced Palestinians from Beit Hanoun sleep inside the UNRWA school in Jabalia, July 23, 2014.

Alessio Romenzi for TIME

Wounded Israeli soldiers are brought to a helicopter on July 23, 2014 near Kafar Aza, Israel.

Andrew Burton—Getty Images

Soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Max Steinberg during his funeral on July 23, 2014 in Jerusalem.

Ilia Yefimovich—Getty Images

Comrades of slain Sgt. Max Steinberg are comforting each other at Mt. Herzl cemetery, Jerusalem, July 23,2014.

Omer Messinger—NurPhoto//REX USA

Smoke pours out of the ground due to an alleged campaign by the Israeli military to fill tunnels originating in Gaza with smoke to discover entrances into Israel on July 23, 2014 near Sderot, Israel.

Andrew Burton—Getty Images

Palestinians take cover as warning Israeli air strikes are fired at a nearby building in Gaza City, July 22, 2014.

A Palestinian boy, who medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, receives treatment at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

Ali Jadallah—APA/Landov

A doctor cries while standing next to a table with the bodies of four dead children in overflowing morgue of the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, July 20, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

A Palestinian woman wearing clothes stained with the blood of other relatives, who medics said were wounded in Israeli shelling, cries at a hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

Mohammed Salemm—Reuters

Palestinians, who medics said were wounded during heavy Israeli shelling, sit at a hospital in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

Mohammed Salem—Reuters

A Palestinian woman, who medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, receives treatment at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, July 20, 2014.

APAimages/Rex

Two Palestinian men carry a white flag as they flee their homes during a brief period of ceasefire requested by local rescue forces to retrieve dead and wounded from the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza City, July 20, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

A Palestinian girl sits in a minibus after fleeing her family's house during heavy Israeli shelling, in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

Suhaib Salem—Reuters

A Palestinian woman, who fled her house following an Israeli ground offensive, stays at a United Nations-run school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 20, 2014.

Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters

Israeli soldiers fire their weapons during the funeral of their comrade Bnaya Rubel in Holon, near Tel Aviv July 20, 2014.

Nir Elias—Reuters

Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of killed Israeli soldier Amotz Greenberg during the military funeral ceremony in the cemetery of Hod Hasharon, Israel, 20 July 2014.

Abir Sultan—EPA

Smoke rises during what witnesses said were heavy Israeli shelling at the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City July 20, 2014.

Mohammed Salem—Reuters

A Palestinian family who fled their homes is en route to seek shelter in a UN school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.

Oliver Weiken—EPA

A Palestinian child along with her family, who fled their home during an Israeli ground offensive, take refuge at a UN school in Gaza City with other families, on July 19, 2014.

Mahmud Hams—AFP/Getty Images

Palestinians, who fled their houses following an Israeli ground offensive, at a UN school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 19, 2014.

Eyad Al Baba—Apaimages/Polaris

Israeli tanks maneuver outside the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.

Ronen Zvulun—Reuters

Israeli soldiers put on their gear on the side of a road across from the Gaza Strip on July 18, 2014.